A BRIEF HISTORY OF BADMINTON IN SRI LANKA

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BADMINTON IN SRI LANKA Like many other games, Badminton was also introduced to "Ceylon" by the advent of British well over 100 years ago. Its on record that the first Badminton Club was formed in 1909 in "Dimbulla " by the British plantation Community in the general area of the hill country Dimbulla Club has been conducting Badminton tournaments regularly at Inter Club and Individual basis, during the early part of the 20th century.However it was in 1950 that "Badminton Association of Ceylon" was formed and first Senior National Men & Women Championships were conducted in the year 1953 and continues regularly without any interruptions. From 1950 up to about 1970, however, the game at competition level was confined to a few clubs and a handful of Schools mainly in Colombo barring one or two outstation schools. An important milestone was achieved in the latter part of 1970, when the "Schools Badminton Association of Ceylon' was formed by the legendary "Ariyadasa Silva" of Ambalangoda. With this move, with the Schools Association conducting its first ever " Junior Nationals in June 1971 saw a huge participation amongst the school children from all parts of the Island. Today, the Badminton Association could boast over 5000 children taking part at the Junior Nationals (2004), from over 150 Schools, which is arguably the singular largest tournament in Sri Lanka, vis-à-vis participation. It has 20 active District Associations and arrangements are being made to popularize the game in an organized manner in the other Districts as well.